A statewide effort has so far eliminated more than $1.4 billion in medical debt for thousands of Illinois residents, Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday at a news conference.
Pritzker touted the results of the state’s Medical Debt Relief Program, which started about two years ago. The state had allocated $10 million toward the program, and Pritzker said in the Cook County Health building that he’s committed to continuing funding for the program.
“One of the great things about this program is that the return on investment is so high,” Pritzker said. “Every penny that we put in relieves a dollar of debt. I don’t know any other program that has that kind of return for people.”
Pritzker said the program aims to address the unaffordable financial burden residents are saddled with because of an unexpected injury or illness. The state program has reached 694,000 residents, according to Pritzker’s office. On average, residents had about $1,200 in debt eliminated though one person had as much as $900,000 in medical debt erased, according to the state.
Pritzker was joined by Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle who first implemented a medical debt relief program in the county. The state and county programs combined have eliminated $2.4 billion in debt for about 1.5 million residents, according to the state and county officials.
Cook County used federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to start the local program, but Preckwinkle also said she’s committed to continue funding the initiative once those federal funds end.
“The next phase of this work will put data from this initiative to use to understand who is being pushed into medical debt and why, and to design policies that address its root causes,” Preckwinkle said.
The state and county have worked with Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit that negotiates the sale or donation of portfolios of medical debt with hospitals and health systems. Eligible households typically have to have an income at or below 400% of the federal poverty level.
The program stands out from others in that residents do not apply for it. Instead, a person who’s had their medical debt eliminated by the state or county programs receives a letter in the mail notifying them of how much debt was erased, Pritzker said.
“I’ve talked to some folks who’ve received a letter like that; people have broken out crying,” Pritzker said. “People want to pay their debts. They do and they get bills in the mail that they know they are obligated, that they’re supposed to pay, and with medical debt, they often just can’t — it’s too much.”
In suburban DuPage County, about 7% of residents had debt erased by the state’s program. Nearly 13% of Kane County residents had medical debt eliminated along with nearly 9% of residents in Lake County. About 22% of residents in Kankakee County, about 60 miles south of Chicago, had their medical debt eliminated as well.
